Trump’s claims raise European hackles

Denmark Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen made it clear that Greenland could become independent – it is now an autonomous region of Denmark – if the Greenlanders wish, but it would not become a state of the USA.

This was in response to American President-elect Donald Trump that the use of force is not ruled out to get control of Greenland. Trump’s son, Trump Jr has been to Greenland on a private visit. Trump’s claims on Canada and Greenland are outrageous, but he seems to quite serious about what he is saying. France, Germany and the European Union (EU) say that sovereignty of members of EU will not be compromised, and there cannot be use of force to change borders. Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egde said that the island is not for sale.

The outlandish claim by Trump is backed by a security concern of the Americans who fear that the Arctic would be dominated by Russia and China, the adversaries of the US. Rasmussen took note of the American fears. He said, “We are open to a dialogue with the Americans on how we can possibly cooperate even more closely than we do to ensure that the American ambitions are fulfilled.”

Denmark is aware that it is an unequal battle with the US. It wants to strike a conciliatory note without losing ground. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen expressed the view that Trump’s ambitions would not lead to American military intervention in Greenland. And she also felt that a trade war with the US is not the way forward for Denmark. Danish company Novo Nordisk’s weight losing medicine, Wegovy, is hugely popular in America.

Trump’s statements indicate that his second term in the White House may not be a mellowed one, and he would take to his unorthodox and provocative ways with full abandon. The question is whether the Republicans in the Congress – in the House of Representatives as well as in the Senate – would support his wild policy initiatives, especially on the foreign policy front.

The Republicans have a narrow majority in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. Trump is likely to override the Congress, but he cannot take it too far. The Russia-China factor in the Arctic is something that all conservatives in Americans are likely to buy, but they cannot afford to antagonise the European countries and the EU.

Trump might feel that Europe is a faded power, and America can have its way. Trump’s second presidential term could indeed be testing for the leaders in Europe, whether it is the question of NATO, Ukraine, and now the issue of Greenland.

Trump’s assumption that Europe is a pushover is wrong. It is indeed true that Europe’s influence is not what it was a century ago, and its decline in influence in global affairs had been playing out in the more 75 years of post-Second World War era.

Europe was battered at the end of the war, and it needed America’s Marshall Plan to recover its economic feet. But the Europeans are not dependent on the American markets exclusively for their investments or their businesses.

It is true that the European countries do not enjoy the financial and military clout that America still has, and this has been evident in nearly three years of the Russia-Ukraine war. It was America that had been pumping financial and military aid to Ukraine. The European contribution was crucial but smaller.

It is difficult to imagine whether Ukraine would have been able to stay in the war as it has done without American help. This must have strengthened Trump’s dismissive view of Europe. But in laying his claims on Greenland, he might be stretching the long American arm far too long.